Douglas Sirk AWard

Since 1995, the Douglas Sirk Award has been given as part of FILMFEST HAMBURG to personalities who have made a special contribution to film culture and the film industry. Clint Eastwood was the first to accept this award, a crystal designed by Hamburg designer Georg Plum.

The eponym of the award is Douglas Sirk, who was born as Hans Detlef Sierck in Hamburg. He emigrated to the USA in 1937 and initially tried his luck as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Sirk celebrated his first success as a director with the melodrama 'Summer Storm'. In the following years, he filmed other successful films from this genre, including 'Written on the Wind', 'A Time to Love and a Time to Die' and 'Imitation of Life'.